The Indian Ministry of Textiles has come out with a ‘Year-End Review 2015’, highlighting the initiatives that the Government of India has undertaken, for the betterment of Indian textile industry.
Under the leadership of Minister of State for Textiles (I/C), Santosh Kumar Gangwar, the Ministry initiated several measures for the promotion of Indian textile sector in general and in assisting the youth, women and disadvantaged segments of the society in particular.
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For the powerloom sector of the country, the Textiles Ministry launched a pilot scheme to upgrade existing plain powerlooms to semi-automatic looms by providing additional attachments and to enable the powerloom weavers to increase production and quality of fabrics to stay competitive in domestic as well as in international markets.
Also, staying completely focused on the handlooms sector, the Ministry launched ‘India Handloom’ brand to promote high value handloom products with new design, zero defect (in fabrics), and zero effect (on environment). It also took steps to encourage handloom weavers to use Information Technology-based intervention extensively for Direct Benefit Transfer under Jan Dhan Yojana, and selling of products through e-commerce.
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To further increase the reach of Indian textiles, the Textiles Ministry also laid special emphasis on North-eastern states of India. A landmark initiative under North Eastern Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) for construction of apparel and garment manufacturing Centres in the NE States was launched in December last year, to promote employment in these states and further encourage entrepreneurship especially amongst women, in the area of garmenting which has a huge potential both within the country and abroad.
The Ministry also focused on schemes, like Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks, Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS), Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS), to support the industry.